1 . Sometimes shipwrecks（沉船）contain sunken treasure, loads of gold or jewelry. Other shipwrecks are themselves the treasure—the stories of their ill-fated voyages creating a legend that makes them sparkle far more than any gold or precious stones.

The wreck of HMS Endurance, which has finally been located deep beneath the icy seas of Antarctica after being lost 107 years ago, was arguably the most valuable shipwreck ever sought. That’s because its discovery adds another thrilling new chapter to an already fascinating tale of perseverance and survival that has echoed down the decades and still inspires today.

Incredibly well preserved at a depth of almost two miles, the ship is little changed from the day in November 1914 when it finally sank beneath the ice. Endurance became embedded in ice while crossing Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. The video shot by underwater search vehicles shows painted timbers, an undamaged guardrail（护栏）and the name “Endurance” written above the five-pointed symbol of a polar star.

“I tell you, you would have to be made of stone not to feel a bit soft at the sight of that star and the name above,” Mensun Bound, the mission’s marine archaeologist, told the BBC. “You can see a porthole（舷窗）that is in Shackleton’s cabin. At that moment, you really do feel the breath of the great man upon the back of your neck.” Shackleton’s leadership was crucial to getting his men out alive. The reason why Shackleton is still applauded as a great man becomes obvious when you consider what he achieved in the face of disasters and hardships during his 1914-16 expedition. The practicality and humanity he showed in the face of severe situations was arguably praised.

1. What makes Endurance the most valuable shipwreck?

A．The treasure aboard.	B．Its inspiring stories.
C．Its undamaged guardrail.	D．The symbol of a polar star.

2. What can we infer from Mensun Bound’s words?

A．The floating ice is as hard as stones.

B．The well-preserved shipwreck is amazing.

C．The heroic deeds of Shackleton are touching.

D．The discovery of Endurance is challenging.

3. What is the text type of the passage?

A．A book review.	B．A news report.
C．A biography.	D．A travel journal.

2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Scientists in Peru have discovered the skull(颅骨) of an ancestor of modern-day whales. The fossilized skull is believed     1    (be) about 36 million years old. Researchers say the discovery suggests that the animal lived in an ocean once     2    (cover) Peru’s southern Ocucaje desert.

The scientists reported the skull was in good condition when     3    (dig) up last year. It has a series of long, pointy     4    (tooth), said Rodolfo Salas, chief of paleontology at Peru’s National University of San Marcos.

Scientists say the ancient mammal was a basilosaurus, which is in the cetacean(鲸目) family. The name basilosaurus means “king lizard(蜥蜴)” and the animal     5    (think) to have been about 12 meters long. But it was not a reptile(爬行动物) although     6    (it) long body might have moved like a large snake.

Salas called the animal “a marine monster” that may belong     7     a new species of basilosaurus. “When it was searching for its food, it     8    (sure) did a lot of damage,” he added.

Salas explained that when the ancient basilosaurus died out, its skull likely sank to the bottom of the ocean,     9     it was quickly buried and remained.

“Back during this age,     10     conditions for fossilization were very good in Ocucaje,” Salas said.

3 . An individual from an unknown hominid (原始人类) species walked across a field of wet, volcanic ash in what is now East Africa around 3.66 million years ago, leaving behind a handful of footprints.

Those five ancient footprints, largely ignored since they were partly unearthed at Tanzania’s Laetoli site in 1976, show features of upright walking by a hominid, a new study finds. Researchers had previously considered them hard to classify, possibly produced by a young bear that took a few steps while standing. But the latest analysis refutes that suggestion.

McNutt, DeSilva, who started the new investigation as a Dartmouth College graduate student, and their colleagues fully dug out and cleaned the five Laetoli footprints in June 2019. Then they measured, photographed and 3-D scanned the ancient tracks. McNutt’s group focused on two footprints that were particularly well-preserved. Foot shapes, sizes, and walking characteristics of the Laetoli individual differed in various ways from those of other hominid individuals at the same site. The prints also didn’t match those from modern black bears and modern chimps (黑猩猩) walking upright.

The Laetoli individual possessed a wider, more chimplike foot than humans, the researchers say. Its big toe stuck out slightly from the second toe (脚趾), but not to the degree observed in chimps. On one step, the Laetoli individual’s left leg crossed in front of the right leg, leaving a left footprint directly in front of the previous track. People may cross-step in this way when trying to regain balance. And bears and chimps assume a relatively wide standing due to knee and other bone arrangements that prevent them from walking like the Laetoli individual and probably from cross-stepping, the scientists say.

Given that only two of the ancient footprints are complete enough to analyze thoroughly, the possibility that a chimp other than a hominid made the Laetoli footprints can’t be ruled out, says William Harcourt Smith, a scientist at Lehman College. But evidence of cross-stepping is enough to prove that it was a hominid track maker, he says.

1. What does the underlined word “refutes” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Objects to.

B．Supports.

C．Puts forward.

D．Criticizes.

2. Why do researchers think the footprints were unlike those of bears or chimps?

A．They are less chimplike.	B．They have toes sticking out.
C．They show relatively wide standing.	D．They possess features of cross-stepping.

3. What does William think of the new research finding?

A．It’s convincing.	B．It’s challenging.
C．It’s confusing.	D．It’s conflicting.

4. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To describe a major event.	B．To share a new discovery.
C．To introduce an unknown species.	D．To settle a huge disagreement.

4 . People all around the world have enjoyed noodles for thousands of years.     1     People first started growing wheat and making flour in the Middle East around 10,000 years ago. But no one had ever found a prehistoric noodle —until 2002.

Archaeologists discovered an upside-down clay bowl in the ruins of an ancient Chinese village.     2     This “mummy” noodle was made from millet. Traders brought wheat to China about the time this ancient noodle was cooked.

Some people claim that Marco Polo brought pasta to Italy. The tale says that when he visited China, he tried noodles for the first time and liked them so much that he took the recipe home.     3     In fact, it was likely made up by an American magazine to try to get Americans to eat more pasta.

    4     The oldest written mention of pasta outside China comes from the Middle East, about 1,600 years ago. The text describes how to eat dried noodles, a popular travel food in the Middle East and Central Asia. Dried noodles were perfect for long trips.     5     Some historians believe that dried noodles spread out from the Middle East or Central Asia. Traders packed their noodles and travelled to other parts of the world. Wherever they got the recipe, Italians were eating pasta long before Marco Polo.

So who REALLY invented noodles? We may never know—the history of noodles is as twisted as a bowl of spaghetti. But whoever invented them, we’re sure glad they did!

A．Who made the very first noodle?

B．But it is probably not true!

C．Who planted wheat first?

D．They were tasty, easy to carry, and never went bad.

E．When they lifted it, they found a 4,000-year-old noodle.

F．However, dried noodles have many disadvantages

G．So, if Marco Polo did not bring noodles to Italy, who did?

6 . 阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Several large wooden constructions     1     ( date) back to the Neolithic era（新石器时代) were unearthed at the Jijiaocheng ruins site, a prehistoric cultural site located in Changde City, central China's Hunan Province.

First discovered in 1978,the site used     2     ( be) a city from the Qujialing culture period (3300 BC-2600 BC) - a Neolithic civilization,     3     had roots in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River primarily     4     (find) in today's Hunan and Hubei provinces.

Researchers     5     (conduct) three excavations(挖掘)at the southwestern part of the city wall since 2020. More than 30 housing sites were discovered at the 721 -square-meter area,     6     a number of wooden architectural relics unearthed that were built 4,800 years ago. Researchers think they are the most complete and     7     (early) wooden structure building foundation in China. Besides, remains of rice husks (外壳) were also found at the site, covering     8     area of 80 square meters.

Researchers believe     9     ( strong) the new findings will enrich the architectural history of prehistoric China. " The     10     ( discover) helps us understand the overall architectural style of the Yangtze River Basin," said Zhao Hui, a professor at Peking University School of Archaeology and Museology.

7 . Discoveries at the famous Sanxingdui ruins in Southwest China show that the region’s ancient Shu Kingdom Civilization shared similarities with the Maya.

The Sanxingdui ruins belonged to the Shu Kingdom that existed at least 4,800 years ago and lasted more than 2,000 years, while the Mayan civilization built its city-states around 200 AD.

The bronze-made remains of tress unearthed at the ruins of the Shu Kingdom resemble the sacred ceiba tree, which symbolized the union of heaven, earth and the underworld in the Mayan civilization. “They are very important similarities,” says Santos, a Mexican archaeologist (考古学家) stressing that “the representations of tress in both cultures provide a symbolism that is very similar”.

The findings at the Sanxingdui ruins, considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, also show a new aspect of Bronze Age culture, indicating the ancient civilization already had technologies that were thought to have been developed much later.

While the lime span between the Shu kingdom and the Mayan culture is great, the findings highlight the closeness between the two civilizations. They developed in areas with comparable climates and reflected their worldview through related symbols. “In the end, man is still man, independent of time and space. What we have is that, at this latitude (纬度), both the Shu people and the Mayans looked at the same sky and had the same stars on the horizon,” the expert says.

One notable feature of the recent discoveries at Sanxingdui was the cross-subject work and technology applied by teams of Chinese archaeologists, which allowed the unearthing of artifacts as fragile as silk remains, which other types of less careful digging methods would not have been able to register.

Cooperation between Chinese and Mexican archaeologists could benefit projects in the Mayan world, where the rainy climate and humidity are problematic for the conservation of ruins.

“Every time our cultural knowledge increases, regardless of whether we speak one language or another, what it shows us is that we continue to be sister cultures and, therefore, the exchange of such knowledge is fundamental,” says Santos.

1. What is a similarity between the Shu Kingdom and Maya civilization?

A．Their starting time.

B．Their historical origins.

C．Their cultural symbols.

D．Their ceremony traditions.

2. The findings at the Sanxingdui ruins have proved that ______.

A．silk was a common clothing material then

B．some technologies were developed much earlier

C．the Bronze Age started earlier than previously assumed

D．the Shu Kingdom and the Mayan world had close contact

3. What is a common challenge for the conservation of both ruins?

A．Damp weather.	B．Positioning of ruins.
C．High latitude.	D．Language barriers.

4. What is the focus of Santos quote in the last paragraph?

A．The future of the China-Mexico cooperation.

B．The benefits of speaking a different language.

C．The importance of the exchange of cultural knowledge.

D．The increasing sisterhood in culture between China and Mexico.

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Generations of Chinese archaeologists     1     (make) fruitful findings in the past century. These findings range from the discovery of the Yangshao village site in Henan province in 1921,     2     (mark) the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, to the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan province.

The most     3     (significance) findings are recognized on the list of the top 100archaeological discoveries of China in the past 100 years. The list     4     (announce) by the National Cultural Heritage Administration at    5    opening ceremony of the third Chinese Archaeology Congress in Sanmenxia.

In     6     (add) to the Yangshao site, which dates back more than 5,000 years, and the Sanxingdui bronze civilization site from about 3,000 years ago, many names familiar    7     the general public were included on the list. Among them is the mausoleum (陵墓) of China's first emperor, Qinshihuang,     8     (know) worldwide as the home of the Terracotta Warriors.

Wang Wei, president of the Archaeological Society of China, said, “The past century has told us that Chinese archaeology has to stick to our own characteristies and become    9     (deep) rooted in the reality of our country." "These discoveries solved puzzles in their respective fields,    10     had wide influence at home and abroad," Wang added.

9 . In April 2018, a group of Canadian scientists flying in a helicopter (直升飞机) discovered something they didn't expect to see — a huge, unknown cave with an opening the size of a football field.

The cave was discovered in the northern part of Wells Gray Provincial Park, in a wild, faraway area of Canada's Cariboo Mountains. The area is hard to get to and even harder to travel through. It is covered with snow for much of the year.   

The group told Catherine Hickson, a scientist who studies rocks, about the cave. Dr. Hickson got a team of researchers together to study it. In September, they went for a closer look after most of the snow melted (融化). The cave is one of the largest in Canada. Not only is the opening to the cave larger than a football field, the cave is also deep. The team couldn't measure (测量) all the way to the bottom, but they think it may be more than 180 meters deep. The cave is tens of thousands of years old. But the rock in the cave is made of used to be at the bottom of an ocean (海洋). It is hundreds of millions of years old.

A small, but fast river of melting snow leads into the cave on one side, creating a waterfall near the top and a river at the bottom. The water comes out again a long way away. The exit (出口) is about 2.1 kilometers away and about l/2 kilometer lower down.

The cave will have to wait to get an official name. For now, the cave is being called "Sarlacc's Pit "because it looks similar to the home of the Sarlacc, a person in the Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi.

For Dr. Hickson, there's a lesson to be learned from the cave. "It shows you that you don't know everything, "she says." There are things yet to be discovered."

1. Why did the cave remain unknown in the past?

A．It is in a wild mountain area.	B．It has been there for just a few years.
C．Its opening is too small to be noticed.	D．The weather there is cold all year round.

2. What are Paragraphs 4 and 5 mainly about?

A．The history of the cave.	B．Some facts about the cave.
C．The value of studying the cave.	D．The methods of studying the cave.

3. What does the underlined word "It" in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．The snow.

B．The river.

C．The ocean.

D．The rock.

4. The cave's name "Sarlace's Pit" has something to do with ________.

A．local culture

B．its discoverers

C．the way it looks

D．the name of a film star